Art for My Dungeons & Dragons Campaign

For those of you who don’t know yet, I’m nerdy enough to be the Dungeon Master for Dungeons & Dragons and run a home-brewed, not-based-on-any-campaign-books campaign.

So it falls to me to illustrate some things for the campaign, which I can totally do, and I’m happy to do so.

A good chunk of the campaign takes place in a section of the world called The Weird Wastes. This is a realm where all the magic in the world exists, because it bleeds from a place called The Rift. The magic in this realm can cause things like pirate ships to sail in deep forests, trees to be colored various shades of blue and violet, and for the boundary between desert and arctic to be a literal line in the sand.

The Weird Wastes also allow for unusual creatures, like Pom.

Pom is all of 18 inches tall and can only speak one-word sentences in Common in a high-pitched voice (things like, “FRIEND!” or “FOLLOW!”). Pom leads lost travelers down safe paths, especially in territories that have barely-visible portals to other planes of existence. One misstep and you can blink out of existence – this is what Pom helps you avoid.

There are two major features that sit on the border between the Weird Wastes and the rest of the world – one is Misha’Korra, the lost city of Dragonborn, which can only be found by going to the Ship on the Rock under the full moon and following the Western Star.

The other feature that sits on the border is Solace Keep – a castle with doors and windows in the floors and ceilings, torch sconces that defy average gravity, and hallways that warp so the floor and ceiling switch places.

Solace Keep is protected and watched by a spirit called Tore’K, an Eldridge Knight.

In the campaign, Solace Keep was overrun by Flesh Sewers, which are necromancer hags, and Tore’K was forced to hide. The Flesh Sewers were sent to overtake Solace Keep by a demon named Orcan Swift (the final boss of the campaign and a villain aspiring to take the place of Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead). Tore’K could not beat them alone, so he sent his regent, Kaluvis the Jackert, to the Weird Wastes to find potential allies.

Kaluvis is 8 feet tall at the shoulders, always hungry, and always surly. He also has a bite that deals lethal damage like an alligator. He is also the one that finds the heroes of the adventure and accompanies them to Solace Keep.

Once the heroes make it to Solace Keep and aid Tore’K to defeat the Flesh Sewers, they can then return to the everyday world and go to Krogensa. Krogensa is a walled city where magic is illegal, forcing magic-users into the catacombs. The catacombs are what’s left of the city on those lands before Krogensa was built on top of it. (Just about every town and city is built on top of the ruins of a long lost queendom, but that’s a separate story) In the catacombs under Krogensa are two thieves’ guilds – one is headed by Orcan Swift (in human disguise), called The Hand of Orcus. The other is Bramblethaum, headed by Enta.

Enta is the human disguise of a silver dragon named Korentavaal. Enta works with elves and gnomes (the poorer classes in Krogensa) to right wrongs, aid the poor, and fight The Hand of Orcus. They also have ties to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a religious order in the city that gives refuge to the sick and needy. (They’re certainly better than their opposing order, the Sisters of Perpetual Guilt, but both organizations are fun to play non-player characters for).

What awaits our heroes? It could be a fight with Orcan Swift. It could be zombies raised by The Hand of Orcus. It could be armies of Kah’fein spirits burst from the Weird Wastes…

I love running this campaign, and I’m hoping that someday I can properly write it into a campaign other folks can play in their groups. But first my players have to survive it!

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Appearances

Due to the pandemic, I will not be making appearances in physical spaces.

That said, I’m available to appear in virtual spaces!

If you would like me to be on your podcast, video, or livestream or elsewhere, email me at kelcidcrawford@gmail.com

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